This is the place of those who are filled with Great Compassion, of those whose hearts remain deeply touched in love and wisdom, as long as others still moan in suffering, misery and sorrow. This is the place of those who shall eternally commit themselves to the wellbeing and enlightenment of the whole of reality. Here is the place of those who give expression to themselves sitting in meditation and on all the paths of existence. Deeply rooted in meditation, they are at the same time totally concerned with helping all beings, going down to the very bottom of things, out of reverence for all who are already awakened.

EDITOR'S NOTE

We are excited to welcome Roshi Norman Fischer and Sokaku Kathie Fischer to lead our Summer Practice Period beginning tomorrow. Fischer discusses Dogen's return from Japan after pilgrimage in China, marking the start of our Soto Zen lineage.

Inspired by Fischer's work, Upaya priest Jiryu Gina Horrocks asks us to explore, What are we waiting for? and the ripening that can happen while we wait.

We hope you'll join us this week in a celebration of welcome, an Empowerment Ceremony to install Joshin Brian Byrnes as president of Upaya Zen Center. This will be an opportunity to ask Joshin to make a commitment to serve Upaya as the administrative head and for the residents, local sangha, staff, and volunteers to welcome Joshin.

Monday, July 7, 2014 at 5:30 p.m. in the Circle of the Way Temple Your RSVP is important to us: please contact Batya at 505-986-8518 ext. 11

Please note these changes to the regular meditation schedule: The midday session will take place at 12:00 noon on July 3-4, 9-11, 16, and 24. With these exceptions, there will be no noon session at all otherwise July 5-27 while the residents are in practice period.

Please note that Upaya has limited parking. We greatly appreciate it if you are able to walk, bike, or carpool! Please park in the East parking lot (the second driveway — the one farther from town) unless it is full. No parking on Cerro Gordo Road and please be careful not to block the fire hydrant by parallel parking along driveway to the public West Parking Lot. We also ask for your mindfulness of those who use the public park and our neighbors. Thank you.

ROSHI JOAN: News, Teachings, Travels

Roshi returns from Europe tomorrow, after an intensive time teaching in Holland and a Mind and Life Europe board meeting in Zurich. She will go to the Refuge on personal retreat over the July 4th weekend.

Roshi invites you to join her and the Upaya sangha on July 7 for the Entering Ceremony of Joshin Brian Byrnes, who is Upaya's incoming President. Joshin has been a longtime practitioner at Upaya and just retired at President of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. He brings many gifts and deep dedication to Upaya, and she is joyful to welcome him into his new role at Upaya.

Roshi will not be teaching again at Upaya til August, and then a weekend on Dogen with Natalie Goldberg, Kaz Tanahashi, Carl Bielefeldt, and then an intensive with Frank Ostaseski and later Roshi Bernie Glassman and Sensei Alan Senauke. She will also be co-leading Rohatsu sesshin (waitlist) in December. So consider joining her for one of these programs; early registration is advised.

Note that her book, "Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death" is to be published in an audio version. She is also working on her next book: "Inside Compassion."

We are accepting applications for Upaya's resident program. Please consider joining Roshi, Visiting Teachers, and Upaya for three months or more of dedicated practice and learning. By application, click here.

Roshi as well has a number of papers she has written on compassion. If you wish to receive a copy, please write the office: upaya@upaya.org

For several new videos of interviews with Roshi Joan on Upaya's Blog, click here.

Roshi Joan started a Google+ Community and more than 2000 people have joined so far. Click here to join.

Roshi now has five new books available for sale at Upaya: Four are photography books — "Seeing Inside," "About Face," "Original Face: Unmediated Expressions of Tibet, Nepal, Burma," and "Leaning into the Light." "Lone Mallard" is a book of her haiku. In addition, over a hundred of her remarkable photos are available to look at (and purchase) on Upaya's website.

FEATURE ARTICLES

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What Do You Do Then?: Joshin Brian Byrnes

Join us for Joshin's Empowerment Ceremony as President of UpayaMonday, July 7, 2014 at 5:30 p.m. in the Circle of the Way Temple Your RSVP is important to us: please contact Batya at 505-986-8518 ext. 11

I want to talk a little bit about what happens in those inevitable moments in life that we’re confronted with some kind of problem or challenge that just seems unsolvable, nowhere to go. I’m one of those guys, maybe many of you are too, that find it kind of hard to accept that there are problems so complex and so challenging that nothing can be done. I’m kind of an optimist in this way. You know, present me with a problem and we can figure it out; there’s a way. I tend to conjure up all kinds of solutions in my mind—whether or not they’re good ones is another question…

Dogen's Return to Japan: Roshi Norman Fischer

So, Dogen came back to Japan. He was still pretty young; he was in his twenties. And he began practicing, now not as a Tendai monastic, but instead as a Zen person. It was the beginning of Zen as an independent school in Japan. And this was a dangerous thing because the Tendai establishment didn't really like that some monastics were saying, "I'm no longer Tendai I'm now a Zen person, and I'm not doing Zen as a part of a Tendai Buddhist program of study, I'm doing Zen as the only practice that I need." This was very threatening to the Tendai establishment, so they gave Dogen quite a bit of trouble throughout the rest of his life. Eventually, he moved to what then was a pretty faraway mountainous place where he established the monastery that still exists as one of the headquarters monasteries of Soto Zen: it's called Eihei-ji.

What Are We Waiting For?: Gina Jiryu Horrocks

The passage “What are Waiting for?” actually comes from Norman Fischer’s book Sailing Home where he uses Homer’s Odyssey to describe our practice of returning to ourselves over and over again. What I’ll explore tonight is things in his passage which is about waiting, what happens in our waiting, a ripening, our feeling, really kind of meeting ourselves and understanding what we’re feeling which is, in fact, the heart of our practice—really, the first Noble Truth to really meet ourselves in that place.

So, I'll start with a poem; it's from T.S. Eliot, "Four Quartets":

And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about; Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing- I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

These talks, given by extraordinary Buddhist teachers such as Roshi Joan Halifax, Sharon Salzberg, Bernie Glassman, and many more, are offered to support your practice even if you live far away from Upaya.

Apps Available Now: Did you know you can have Upaya's dharma talks delivered directly to your mobile phone or MP3 player? iPhone and iPod users, just use iTunes to subscribe to our free podcast here.

Mind & Life International Symposium for Contemplative Studies

Join the Dalai Lama, Roshi Joan and the most innovative thought leaders in neuroscience, psychology, clinical science, the humanities, philosophy, and education as they present their groundbreaking research.

• Metta Refuge Council for those who wish to explore and share their experiences with aging, sickness and death

Donations to Upaya's Nomads Clinics

This September/October/November, Upaya's Nomads Clinics return to the Nepalese Himalayas to Mustang and Humla. The Nomads Clinic comprises a team of dedicated clinicians and friends, who make an annual pilgrimage to remote areas of the Himalayas to provide medical and humanitarian aid. We work alongside local and traditional doctors and health assistants, and train health workers in the region. Please consider giving a tax-deductable donation through Upaya.

Santa Fe Sangha Events

THURSDAYS (most), 9:20 am: Weekly Seminar, Upaya House living room - open to the public. Topic is usually related to the dharma talk of the evening before. To confirm that the seminar is happening that morning, please email temple@upaya.org.

SATURDAY, July 12: Fusatsu Full Moon Ceremony, 5:30 p.m. A traditional Buddhist ceremony of atonement, purification, and renewing of the precepts. Upaya holds Fusatsu every month, usually on the day of the full moon. Please join us in the temple for this beautiful ceremony.

SUNDAY, July 27, 6:30 p.m., Upaya House Local Sangha Dharma Discussion GroupPlease join the local sangha in an ongoing exploration of the Five Buddha Families. This month's topic will be the "Karma" Family, and will be facilitated by Marilyn Whitney. We meet at Upaya House at 6:30 p.m. for tea, cookies, and socializing, with discussion from 7-8:30. You are invited to join the residents for zazen at 5:30. Newcomers welcome!

Request for Donations: This month the Upaya Sangha will be collecting donated items for the Nomads Clinic. Please help us by donating as many of the following much-needed items as possible. (Any connections to organizations or individuals in a position to facilitate bulk donations would be of very helpful.)

350 pairs of Sunglasses

500 tubes of lip balm/Chapstick

25 bottles Prenatal vitamins

500 bottles "artificial tears" eye drops (or generic)

200 adult toothbrushes

200 children’s toothbrushes

Please bring your items for donation to the Sangha meeting on July 27th.

To find out about more local sangha events, please visit our Santa Fe Sangha web page.

You are an important part of Upaya's community! Thank you for your participation, and for sharing this with anyone else who may be interested.

CEUs and CNEs for 2014: Attention Therapists, Counselors, Social Workers, and Nurses

Upaya invites nurses, counselors, therapists, and social workers to attend our special retreats and trainings where CNEs and CEUs may be earned.

Calgary, AB, Canada: Calgary Contemplative End of Life Care Practice Group. For professionals and volunteers working with people who are dying. Second Monday each month at Hospice Calgary's Sage Center, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Sit starts at 7 p.m. For further information, contact laurie.lemieux@hospicecalgary.com

Westbury, Wiltshire, U.K. We meet fortnightly on Sundays between 3 and 5:00 p.m. At the end of May we begin a programme of Mindfulness Meditation Courses (on a donation basis) for the community. at The East Wing, 35 Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire. For more info, e-mail Jan Mojsa, janmojsa@googlemail.com. www.eastwingpractice.co.uk